Minimum wage increases to $13.50 in San Jose

SAN JOSE (KRON) — Minimum wage has increased to $13.50 an hour in San Jose on Monday.

This is the next step in increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2019, according to San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.

The minimum wage also rose to $13.50 in Sunnyvale.

Here is the full statement from Liccardo:

San Jose, Calif. – On January 1, the minimum wage within San Jose rose to 13.50 per hour, the latest milestone in the regional effort to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour by 2019.

In September 2015, Mayor Liccardo launched an effort with fellow Santa Clara County mayors and the Cities Association of Santa Clara County to raise the minimum wage across the region. As a result of these efforts, in November 2016, the San Jose City Council adopted a multi-step increase in the minimum wage that brings the minimum wage to $13.50 on Jan. 1, 2018 and $15 on Jan. 1, 2019. Thereafter, the San Jose minimum wage will be automatically adjusted with cost-of-living increases (based on CPI, up to 5%) annually.

Through the regional effort spearheaded by Mayor Liccardo, several other Santa Clara County cities have concurrently adopted ordinances to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2019, including: Cupertino, Los Altos, Milpitas Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale (note: Sunnyvale and Mountain View will reach a $15 minimum wage in 2018).

“Our efforts to raise the minimum wage will provide a significant boost for the thousands of hard-working families across the valley who continue to struggle to keep up with rising costs,” said Mayor Sam Liccardo. “By moving forward with many of our neighboring cities, we’ll ensure that more of our residents benefit from a higher wage and that we have a more even playing field for our small businesses.